Federal Accountability Act (S.C. 2006, c. 9)

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply to

  • (a) the Commissioner or any person acting on behalf of or under the direction of the Commissioner, with respect to the Commissioner’s participation in any proceedings before the Tribunal; or

  • (b) a person designated as an investigator under section 19.7 with regard to his or her participation in the investigation for which he or she was so designated.

Marginal note:Saving

51. Subject to subsections 19.1(4) and 21.8(4), nothing in this Act is to be construed as prohibiting

• (a) the presentation of an individual griev­ance under subsection 208(1) of the Public Service Labour Relations Act; or

Marginal note:Power to temporarily assign other duties

• 51.1 (1) A chief executive may temporarily assign other duties to a public servant who is involved in a disclosure or a complaint in respect of a reprisal if the chief executive believes on reasonable grounds that the public servant’s involvement has become known in the public servant’s workplace or that the temporary assignment is necessary to maintain the effective operation of the workplace.

• Marginal note:Public servants who may be assigned other duties

  (2) For the purposes of this section, the public servants involved in a disclosure or a complaint in respect of a reprisal are

  • (a) the public servant who made the disclosure and every public servant who is the subject of the disclosure;

  • (b) the public servant who filed the complaint and every public servant who is alleged to have taken the reprisal to which the complaint relates; and

  • (c) every public servant who is a witness or potential witness in the investigation, if any, relating to the disclosure or in any proceeding dealing with the complaint.

• Marginal note:Duration

  (3) The assignment may be for a period of up to three months, but the chief executive may renew the assignment one or more times if he or she believes that the conditions giving rise to it continue to exist on the expiry of a previous period.

• Marginal note:Duties

  (4) Subject to subsection (7), the duties that may be assigned must be in the same portion of the public sector in which the public servant is employed and must be comparable to the public servant’s normal duties.

• Marginal note:Consent

  (5) Subsection (1) applies to a public servant, other than a public servant who is the subject of the disclosure or who is alleged to have taken the reprisal, as the case may be, only if the public servant consents in writing to the assignment. The assignment is deemed not to be a reprisal if the public servant’s consent is given.

• Marginal note:Not disciplinary action

  (6) The assignment of other duties to a public servant who is the subject of the disclosure or who is alleged to have taken the reprisal, as the case may be, is deemed not to be a disciplinary action.

• Marginal note:Duties in other portion of the public sector

  (7) A public servant may be temporarily assigned duties in another portion of the public sector if both the chief executive of that other portion and the public servant consent to the assignment and the duties are comparable to the public servant’s normal duties. The assignment is deemed not to be a reprisal or a disciplinary action if the public servant’s consent is given.

Marginal note:Judicial review

• 51.2 (1) For the purposes of section 18.1 of the Federal Courts Act,

  • (a) a public servant who has made a disclosure to the Commissioner under section 13 is deemed to be directly affected by any report made by the Commissioner in relation to the disclosure;

  • (b) a public servant or former public servant who files a complaint under subsection 19.1(1) is deemed to be directly affected by a decision of the Commissioner to refuse to deal with or to dismiss the complaint; and

  • (c) a party to a proceeding before the Tribunal is deemed to be directly affected by a decision of the Tribunal in relation to that proceeding.

• Marginal note:Rights of action

  (2) Nothing in this Act affects any right of action that a public servant may otherwise have in relation to any act or omission giving rise to a dispute that does not relate to his or her terms or conditions of employment.

Marginal note:Authority to act for Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

51.3 The Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police may authorize a Deputy or Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to exercise the powers or perform the duties and functions of the Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a chief executive in respect of section 11, subsection 19.4(2), paragraph 19.6(1)(b), subsections 19.8(1) and 19.9(1), paragraphs 22(g) and (h), subsections 26(1), 27(1) and (3), 28(1) and 29(3) and sections 36 and 50.

Marginal note:Transitional — staff

• 54.1 (1) Each person employed in the Agency in the administrative unit known as the Office of the Public Service Integrity Officer assumes, on the coming into force of this section, a position in the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner.

55. The Access to Information Act is amended by adding the following in numerical order:

55.1 Schedule I to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order under the heading “Other Government Institutions”:

56. The schedule to the Canada Evidence Act is amended by adding the following after item 19:

Marginal note:R.S., c. F-7; 2002, c. 8, s. 14

56.1 Subsection 28(1) of the Federal Courts Act is amended by striking out the word “and” at the end of paragraph (o), by adding the word “and” at the end of paragraph (p) and by adding the following after paragraph (p):

Marginal note:R.S., c. F-11

56.2 Schedule I.1 to the Financial Administration Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order in column I:

and a corresponding reference in column II to the “President of the Treasury Board”.

56.3 Schedule I.1 to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order in column I:

and a corresponding reference in column II to the “Minister of Canadian Heritage”.

56.4 Schedule IV to the Act is amended by adding the following in alphabetical order:

Marginal note:R.S., c. 31 (4th Supp.)

56.5 Subsection 24(3) of the Official Languages Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (b):